Cottage cheese noodles
Egg noodles tossed with golden buttery onions, creamy cottage cheese, sour cream and dill, the Hungarian comfort dish that’s cheap, cozy and full of protein.
- 25 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 4
- About $1.93 a serving
- 590 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegetarian
Dolly says: I’d make this on a weeknight. It’s on the table in 25 minutes.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
- 3 tbsp butter
- 12 oz egg noodles
- 2 cups cottage cheese
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 tbsp fresh dill, chopped
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp salt, plus ½ tsp
- ½ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 590 calories, 26 g protein, 70 g carbs and 23 g fat, and costs about $1.93 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No egg noodles? Fettuccine or penne works.
- No sour cream? Plain Greek yogurt works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Fill a large pot with water, add 1 tablespoon salt, cover and over high heat.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
the onion.
Finely chop. Finely chopping means cutting food into small pieces, a little bigger than minced, about the size of a lentil. Small pieces spread their flavor through the dish and cook quickly.
How you’ll know: Nothing is bigger than a lentil, and the pile looks like confetti rather than paste.
the butter in a large over medium heat. Add the onion and cook 8 to 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until soft and .
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium heatTimer: 9 min
Cook the noodles as the package says, then .
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
High heatTimer: 7 min
Add the noodles to the and with the onion butter for 1 minute, then take it off the heat.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min
Stir in the cottage cheese, sour cream, dill, pepper and ½ teaspoon salt, cover, and let it sit 2 minutes so the cheese warms through.
Timer: 2 min
Dolly’s tip: Don’t cook it after the cheese goes in. Gentle warmth keeps it creamy instead of watery.once more and serve with extra black pepper.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
